When Gov. Bruce Rauner took office nearly two years ago, he unveiled an ambitious, 44-point agenda that promised to transform state government through measures that included overhauling the sales and gas tax, lifting the cap on charter schools and giving struggling towns the ability to declare bankruptcy.

The rookie Republican politician also laid out plans to gradually increase the minimum wage, amend the state constitution to make it easier to limit costs associated with the state's employee pension system, limit expensive payouts in personal injury lawsuits, and set term limits for lawmakers and statewide officers.

Several items on that agenda have since been shelved, as Rauner and the Democrats who control the General Assembly remain deadlocked on a state budget. The historic impasse has squeezed budgets at state universities, threatened social service providers and sent the state's debt soaring — and there's little indication the stalemate will end anytime soon.

That's because the fight is less about numbers than ideology. While Rauner's wish list has shrunk, it remains a prerequisite to a larger budget deal. The governor contends the state can't tax or cut its way to prosperity without enacting "structural reforms" to boost businesses and grow the economy.

Democrats led by House Speaker Michael Madigan counter that Rauner's economic proposals would do little in the short term to bolster the state's coffers. They argue that he's deliberately holding the budget hostage to push his political agenda, and that his ideas would harm working families.

But Rauner says he's not giving up. With a temporary stopgap spending plan set to expire at the end of the year, he unveiled an updated five-point plan during a meeting with legislative leaders last week. The wish list still contains several of the ideas that Democrats have rejected since Rauner took office, plus some that have been political and legal stumbling blocks at the Capitol since long before he arrived.

The governor said he's "trying to be flexible," and doesn't need all five items to clear the way for a budget deal. That's a message he's been telegraphing for months, though it has done little to entice Democrats to the bargaining table.

It also leaves Rauner with options in the event budget pressures force him to walk away with less than he wants. Already, Rauner is calling for near daily meetings with legislative leaders when they return to Springfield next week following the Thanksgiving break.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget office estimates the state's backlog of unpaid bills will hit a record $13.5 billion by July if the governor and Democrats who control the General Assembly remain deadlocked over a complete spending plan, a bleak reminder of what's at stake as negotiations...

"I got it down to basically five things now, from 44," Rauner said. "And we can, you know, throw out one or two. It has to be significant. It has to send a message to job creators that it's a new day in Illinois, come to Illinois."

Workers' compensation

At the top of Rauner's list is an overhaul of the state's workers' compensation system, a form of insurance in which employers provide medical care and wage replacement for workers hurt on the job.

Democrats have proved open to changes in the past. In 2011, lawmakers approved a broad overhaul of the system that was estimated to save employers, including state and local governments, $500 million a year. But Rauner and business groups have argued that effort, which slashed medical fees for doctors and hospitals, didn't go far enough.

The latest push centers around the issue of "causation" — proof that an injury happened on the job and not, for example, at a weekend softball game. Currently, an employee must prove an injury "arises out of" and "in the course of" employment. Rauner wants to toughen that standard so an employee must prove his or her work was a major contributing cause of an injury.

Democrats have strongly resisted that change, with Madigan arguing Rauner's plan would "send injured workers to welfare and the emergency room." Democrats say the focus should be on the insurance industry and how companies set workers' compensation rates.

Property tax freeze

One constant in the governor's agenda has been his call for a freeze on local property taxes, an idea that's popular among homeowners but causes stress for towns and schools that rely on funds from the levy.

To offset the potential budget hit, Rauner wants the tax freeze to be coupled with a rollback of unfunded mandates on schools and consolidation of various government offices. Examples of unfunded mandates include the requirement that schools offer driver's education and restrictions on what services a school can outsource, but it also includes rules related to employee health care.

Efforts to change those sorts of work rules are seen as an attack on unions, as are the governor's calls to eliminate restrictions regarding outsourcing of jobs like janitorial or cafeteria services.

Local officials have raised questions about Rauner's push to consolidate government operations. Township supervisors have expressed concerns about a measure suggested by Rauner's consolidation task force that would require townships that consolidate to adopt the lowest tax rate currently assessed by the entities coming together.

The Rauner administration says that would shield residents from having to pay a higher property tax rate if townships consolidate, but officials say it could force the newly formed township to provide services to more people with less funds.

Rauner on Tuesday indicated he was willing to consider other options for alleviating the revenue lost by a property tax freeze.

"I'm willing to change it in whatever way we can get done with the General Assembly," the governor said. "There's no one way that it has to be. What we've got to do is bring down property taxes. There's various ways to do it. More local control of bargaining, bidding, contracting is one way. Reducing the number of units of government and government consolidation helps. There's a lot of different ways to do it."

Education reform

Rauner has also waded into the decadeslong debate over school funding, appointing a commission over the summer to come up with proposals to overhaul how the state doles out money to local school districts. The move was a departure from his earlier resistance on the issue, which he accused Democrats of embracing earlier this year as a distraction from budget talks. The commission's report is not due until Feb. 1

Critics say education funding is not equal in part because more affluent towns heavily rely on property taxes to prop up their bottom line. That means some districts spend more than $20,000 per student while some low-income and rural districts spend less than $7,000.

Changing the funding formula, though, is politically tricky. There's a limited pot of money to go around, and well-to-do districts don't want to have their share cut as lawmakers search for ways to boost funding for poorer schools.

Rauner is also pushing for "school choice," which is typically code for vouchers that would provide students with state funds to attend private schools. Opponents say it's a way to privatize education and undermine teacher unions.

Pension reform

With the state's unfunded pension liability reaching a record $130 billion, Rauner has once again turned his focus to an overhaul of the state's five employee retirement systems. It's a topic lawmakers have long struggled to address. Landmark changes passed in 2013 were later ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Illinois Constitution contains a clause declaring that pension benefits cannot be "diminished or impaired" once they are bestowed, language that limits what sort of changes can be made as Rauner and lawmakers look to curb costs related to retirees. As a workaround, Rauner is supporting an idea backed by Senate President John Cullerton known as "consideration."

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It's a theory based in contract law, in which benefits could be scaled back but only if workers agreed and were given something in return. Rauner said last week that Cullerton has agreed to draft a new bill using that model. It faces an uphill battle in the legislature, where Democrats will likely be unwilling to buck labor unions that helped finance their campaigns amid attacks from Rauner and his wealthy allies.

Much is riding on the passage of a pension bill. As part of the stopgap budget passed in June, Rauner and lawmakers tied $200 million in help for Chicago Public Schools pensions to a larger statewide pension agreement. Cullerton initially agreed to hold on to the CPS pension bill while a broader pension plan could be worked out, but then earlier this month sent the CPS funding measure alone to the governor for action. That means Rauner now has until early January to sign or veto the bill, or it automatically becomes law.

Term limits

At the same time Rauner is asking lawmakers to help him pass his agenda, he's also demanding that they put limits on their time in office. The governor has long railed against the state's political "machine," contending legislators are too focused on amassing power and have become beholden to interest groups, not voters.

It's a direct attack against Madigan, who has served as speaker of the House since 1983, save for two years of Republican control. Rauner has spent much of his time in office pushing a petition drive to get term limits on the ballot, though the courts have effectively ruled that lawmakers would have to vote to put term limits on the ballot for adoption.

That's an unlikely scenario, particularly in the House where Madigan has argued term limits already exist in the form of elections.

Meanwhile, Rauner has developed a rather odd argument in support of term limits, saying they would result in more lame-duck lawmakers who would be willing to take tough votes on their way out of office. Rauner's reasoning seems focused on the possibility that Democratic lawmakers may break ranks and support his ideas, but it was during a lame-duck session that Democrats pushed through a major income tax increase in 2011, which Rauner has maligned.

It's the expiration of major parts of that tax hike that have created some of the state's current money woes, a rollback Rauner supported during his campaign for governor.